“We’ve also found that pathogens stimulate cells to release microvesicles and that this aids infection.”

There were more than 40,000 new cases of prostate cancer in men across the UK in 2010 alone, according to Cancer Research UK.

“This is an area of biomedicine that is going to explode – these findings have huge implications for thousands of cancer sufferers, as well as those with autoimmune and infectious diseases,” said Professor Inal.

CMIRC are at the forefront of international research into nfectious disease. It is the UK’s only research team dedicated to microvesicles, also called extracellular vesicles.

“We first began looking at them in 2007 and after discovering how critical they were, we have gone on to elucidate their modes of action and are now applying this knowledge in therapy," added Jameel.